8 charged for online advertisement fraud in the US

November 28, 2018 | Brainwave Science

SITUATION

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted six Russians and two people from Kazakhstan who were allegedly involved in cyber-crime. The men have been associated with a digital advertising fraud scheme worth more than $30 million.The indictment which involved more than 10 counts was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn. Investigations which have been running for years for international cybercriminal rings have now led to charges of computer hacking, wire-fraud, intense identify theft and money laundering. As of now, three people have been arrested, and many remain at large.The illegal activities, involving more than 5,000 fake domains and 1,900 computers, took place between late 2014 and late 2016. More than 650,000 IP addresses, were leased by the defendant. Advertising companies have lost around $7 million in revenue from fake advertising fraud.The defendants allegedly used infected computers to run ad-fraud schemes, between late 2015 and late 2018. They infected more than 1.7 million computers and cheated advertisers of around $29 million.The defendants employed advanced computer programming and infrastructure to exploit the digital advertising industry. FBI has seized around 30 domains, obtained search warrants for more than 80 servers which are said to be used for the fraud. Google and Microsoft have promised to assist the FBI in this case. Advertisement fraud is perceived as a faceless crime in which the culprits usually do not get identified or punished.

CHALLENGE

Cyber-crime is a threat to organisations and people who use computers connected to the internet. Not every internet user is ready or equipped to protect him or herself against cyber-crime.

Although most of us use the Internet for almost everything, there are some of us who are forced to use it for utility. In the recent past, many post-offices and newspapers have had to shut down because of financial losses. This is because the majority of the populace has made the shift to digital alternatives. Most of the internet users have begun using the internet not out of choice, but out of compulsion.

The ugly truth is that the criminals on the internet improvise quickly and the general public finds it very tough to catch up. Internet crime is as dangerous as real crime. It can range from cyberbullying, harassment, financial extortion, internet bomb threats, data theft, password trafficking, personal data hacking, copyright violations, such as software piracy. It can also mean extreme crimes like weapon trafficking, child pornography, credit-card theft, email, phishing, virus spreading, etc.

Cybercriminals are very good at leaving no digital footprints, thus they are all the more difficult to catch a hold of. Investigating agencies need modern weapons to deal with this novel kind of crime.

WHY ICOGNATIVE?

The 3 arrested persons must possess a great deal of information about cybercrime. If they really are involved, then their brains have been exposed to computer hacking and related nefarious activities. Conventional interrogation will not be able to elicit the information which the investigators need. This is because, the investigators aim to not just prove the guilt of the persons who were arrested, but also to use the knowledge the suspects possess to infiltrate the larger criminal network. The suspects might be aware of information related to the hundreds of fake domains (websites), computers, IP addresses which were used for this and other cybercrimes.

Such an enormous feat cannot be the handiwork of a few persons. There must be many more who are involved in causing such huge financial damage. The traditional tools available to investigators, like DNA and fingerprinting are not quite applicable in cyber-crime. Cyber-criminals can be based out of anywhere on the globe and are extremely good at covering their identities and tracks.

If cyber security experts and investigators are able to find out which cyber-criminal possesses which stolen piece of code, they might be able to trace the roots of cyber-crime. The possibilities are endless.

iCognative test is quite impossible to deceive. The test can accurately determine whether the subject has ever been a witness to, planned or executed a specific crime. Evidence related to the crime which the law enforcement agencies have gathered, is presented to the suspects undergoing the test, in the form of words, phrases or pictures. Their brain responses reveal if the subject has awareness of the particular stimuli. This can be used to not only confirm or disprove a person’s involvement, but also to establish the degree of their involvement, or also their rank in a criminal network.

The 45 minute long test involves no interaction between the administrator of the test and the subject. Thus, the test becomes immune to the subjective opinion of the test organizer. The test results are 99.9% accurate, and there are no false positives or false negatives.

Brainwave Science’siCognative is a modern tool which can help defeat the most modern crime – Cybercrime. It must be used in order to augment the investigative process and equip it for the future.